Abstract of “The Concept of ‘State’ from Islamic Perspective”

Abstract of “The Concept of ‘State’ from Islamic Perspective” for 2nd INTERNATIONAL ISAR SYMPOSIUM with a Special Focus on State: Between Tradition and Future Dr. Hassan Ko Nakata The concept of ‘state’ which has become prevalent all over the world today because of the hegemony of its advocator, the West, that had once conquered the world by its imperialistic rule, stems from the experience historically specific to the modern West. It is characterized by two ideas, namely, ‘legal body’, and ‘representation’, both of which are product of Euro-Christian metaphysical tradition. The Western concept of ‘legal body’ has its root in the Christian terminology of ‘CORPUS CHRISTI’ from which the word ‘corporation’ comes, while the concept of ‘representation’ has echoes of Platonic ontology. Consequently it has connotation that the legal body is not an abstract concept which exists only in human mind but an entity which has a metaphysical reality. As for the modern concept of ‘nation state’ as legal body or corporation, what is represented by it is ‘the nation’ which is supposed to have the sovereignty. On the contrary, in the tradition of Islamic political thought, there is neither the concept of ‘legal body’ nor the concept of ‘representation. In Islam, only the ‘natural person’ can be an agent for the legal actions which result in the sanctions at the Day of Judgment, thus there is categorically no room for the concept of legal body. In Islam, the rulers can’t represent the people, but they can only act in behalf of the people according to the authorities which were conferred by Allah. Thus we should replace the concept of ‘state’ by another authentic term of Islamic sciences.